How better to express the virtues of Podgism than to let our members speak freely and from their hearts (this is the uncensored version). Let any Enemy of the Podge or disbeliever hear first hand from our comrades.

  • Erik Spiekermann

    “Is it the Design Industry? Business? Trade? To me, it’s a bunch of colleagues who share the same problems, issues, loves and hates. I consider other designers competitors last, friends first (and I’ve even been know to even fancy some of them). Every year at Podge I get a chance to reconnect with my friends in the UK and I wouldn’t miss it, ever. On my calendar Podge is a Jour Fixe, as we Germans say."

    Erik Spiekermann, CEO,
    EdenSpiekermann    www.spiekermann.com

  • Jill Marshall

    “I was a Podge virgin until 2006 and had honestly thought that Podge was just a bunch of old design-industry farts getting pissed. Well imagine my surprise! Seriously, Podge represents all the things that made me fall in love with our industry almost 20 years ago: great people"

    Jill Marshall, Managing Director,
    Bloom    www.bloom-london.com

  • Michael Peters

    “While the professional annual get together is D&AD and the Design Week Awards, the social highlight of the Design year is the Annual Podge lunch. This is where real Design Industry Genius’s meet - this is where the real Design Gossip is bantered and most important where the professional and competitive cudgels are downed, the Egos left at the front door and the Design Business unites into one big family."

    Michael Peters, OBE,
    Michael Peters & Partners    www.michaelpetersandpartners.com

  • Rian Hughes

    “Podge is an institution, held in an institute, for those who have been in the industry long enough to be institutionalised"

    Rian Hughes, Director,
    Device    www.devicefonts.co.uk

  • John Mathers

    “Podge is a unique opportunity for the design industry to get together and celebrate. As design increasingly leads the way for the creative industries the role of Podge becomes ever more important and being part of it is a telling statement about your part in our future.”

    John Mathers, CEO,
    Design Council    www.designcouncil.org.uk

  • James Backhurst

    “I must admit I was somewhat apprehensive beforehand when I saw the list of the good and the great from the industry attending, but after a few beers the nerves were gone and I had a fantastic time, what a great bunch of people, atmosphere and venue.”

    James Backhurst, Creative Director & Founder,
    The Allotment    www.theallotmentbranddesign.com

  • Caroline Roberts

    “Fab — you've created a phenomenon :) Long may it last!”

    Caroline Roberts, Design Writer, Editor & Curator,
    Woodbridge & Rees    www.woodbridgeandrees.com

  • Shan Preddy

    “Podge is really, really terrible. For a start, it’s full of people who are passionate about design. Then you have to miss work for an afternoon. And an evening. You have to catch up with people you’ve known for years and meet a whole bunch of interesting new people. Finally, you have to eat, drink and chat. A lot. And this is supposed to be fun?? I can’t imagine what Phil Jones is thinking of, arranging it every year.”

    Shan Preddy, Founder
    Preddy & Co.    www.preddy.co.uk

  • Robert Boon

    “We had a great time at our first Podge and met some familiar faces amongst many new ones. It was great for us, as a younger smaller design studio, to talk to people at such a varied level of both expertise and experience in design and also the wider creative industries. Swapping (war) stories with my fellow dinners was both enlightening and refreshing, in that it provided insight into their world(s) and reaffirmed my choices. The grass is always greener, unless it isn't.”

    Robert Boon, Director
    Inventory Studio    www.inventorystudio.co.uk

  • Andy Black

    “The one I clear my diary for! The time when we, the design industry, in all our diverse splendour, can feel at liberty to drop the competitive veneer and be ourselves – like-minded friends old and new! For me, that’s unmissable.”

    Andy Black, CEO
    Springetts Brand design Consultants    www.springetts.co.uk

  • Jonathan Ellery

    “The Podge is a manifestation of it's founder Phil Jones, it's a social catalyst which holds a lot of things together. It's always good fun and stuff always happens, the more visual of which tends to happen later in the evening.”

    Jonathan Ellery, Founder
    Browns    www.brownsdesign.com